Marcus Caesar Brutus Character Analysis

Leader to prey. Respect to hostility. Power to death. These unfortunate events are what shape the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare and the tragic hero in it. The tragic hero in this play is Marcus Brutus. A tragic hero is a person who starts with power, happiness, and respect, but because of a character flaw loses it all. He fits the definition of a tragic hero to the tee. He has a very frightening character flaw of extreme naivety. Because of these reasons, the tragic hero is Brutus because his naivety took him from being a powerful, noble senator to dead on a battlefield with his own sword through his body.

Marcus Brutus, the tragic hero of the play, was well respected by the Roman people. He was a well like senator
Marcus Brutus is no different. His flaw is naivety. This is a major flaw because if someone is persuaded easily, others can manipulate you to do as they say. In many cases, Brutus also doesn’t realize the actual motive behind people’s actions. For example, in Act II before they killed Caesar. Cassius wanted the group to take an oath to pledge their allegiance to it. Brutus fires back immediately exclaiming, “And what other than honesty engaged, that this shall be or we will fall for it”(IIi132-134)? Brutus did not put together there that Cassius was not in it for the same reason he was. Brutus honestly thought that they were all killing Caesar for the good of Rome and not just for power. Cassius used his naivety against him in many different situations. Another example is when Cassius sent letters to Brutus in different handwritings to try and convince Brutus that this is what all of Rome and the Roman people wanted(Iii305-315). Brutus acted and went through with killing Caesar only because he thought that is what the people wanted and that it would help them. Brutus was an all around good guy as well and wanted to help the Roman people. His kindness was also triggered by his naivety. Brutus allowed Antony to speak at Caesar’s funeral. Brutus said, “Do grace to Caesar’s corpse, and grace his speech tending to Caesar’s glories, which Mark Antony (By our permission) is allowed to make”(IIIii55-57).
He lost friendships, his wife, and eventually his wife. All of these downfalls were a result of his character flaw of severe naivety. From these quotes, you can see how his naivety was very important to the story and Brutus. It brought him from leader to prey, from having respect to being faced with hostility, and he went from having power to